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Status

Open

Estimated Completion Time

9-10 weeks

Overview

Elementary Spanish is an exploratory introduction to the Spanish culture and language. Students will learn the target language in a story-based framework, providing a fun and positive experience within the learning. Each lesson is taught through an engaging, authentic story that gives students an opportunity to see and hear the language in context. Students will learn foundational skills in listening and speaking in the early levels, and will add Spanish literacy skills beginning in Level 2. The courses provide audio and visual stimuli for all learning types and ample opportunities to hear, speak, read, write, and record the language. This suite also provides strategically-based reviews of past learning. Each course is built on connections to an authentic culture of a specific Spanish-speaking region through the arts, celebrations, and traditions of the culture, leading students on the path to becoming global citizens. Courses provide a natural progression of learning through the following language acquisition stages:

  • Preproduction
  • Early Production
  • Speech emergence
  • Intermediate fluency

Please view the Elementary Parents’ Survival Guide: The First Four Weeks of Online Learning for guidance on helping your student in the transition to online learning.

Course Requirements

All levels of Spanish require independent reading skills. We recommend students begin Spanish sometime during grades 2 or 3, depending on their reading level. Those who are not yet reading independently can take the course, provided an adult is available to read material to the student.

To achieve success, students are expected to submit work in each course weekly. Students can learn at their own pace; however, “any pace” still means that students must make progress in the course every week. To measure learning, students complete self-checks, practice lessons, multiple choice questions, projects, discussion-based assessments, and discussions. Students and families are expected to maintain regular contact with teachers because, when teachers, students, and parents work together, students are successful.

Required Materials – Please view the list of materials before registering.

Major Topics and Concepts

Module One

  • The culture of the Caribbean
  • The Caribbean Sea and islands
  • Words and expressions related to age
  • Greet formally and informally
  • Summer clothing
  • The letters/letter combinations q, qu, c (soft), and ch and their syllables
  • Ordinal numbers
  • How to say I want or don’t want something
  • Sea animals in the Caribbean
  • Indefinite articles
  • Plurals
  • How to say what I see and what someone else sees
  • Water activities and different equipment used for water activities
  • Prepositions en and con
  • Compare words that are similar in student’s own language
  • Talk about what someone is doing, where, and with what
  • Asking and answering ¿cuántos años tiene?, ¿qué tienes?, ¿qué quieres?, ¿qué ve él/ella?, and
  • ¿qué hace él/ella?

Module Two

  • Directional words
  • The letters ll and soft g and their syllables
  • The Coquí song
  • Legends and the Tainos legend
  • Native American peoples of the Caribbean
  • Compare native tribes in the Caribbean to native tribes where students live
  • Foods and drinks
  • Expressing likes and dislikes about foods and drinks
  • Tropical fruits
  • Multiplication and using multiplication to solve a problem
  • The blends cr, cl, pr and pl including their sound and words that contain those blends
  • Opposite words
  • Regional words from the Caribbean
  • Words associated with the rainforest
  • A storybook about the Coquí
  • Say where something is using está en
  • Asking and answering ¿adónde va?, ¿qué ves?, ¿cuánto cuesta?, and ¿dónde está?

Module Three

  • The blends pr, pl, dr, tr, br, bl, gr, gl, fr, and fl including their sound and words that contain those
  • blends
  • Day and night words
  • Morning activities and routines
  • The reflexive pronoun me
  • El colibrí abeja
  • Cuban culture
  • Plurals of adjectives
  • Polite words and phrases and using them in conversation
  • The Cuban folktale El gallo de boda
  • Command/action words
  • Asking and answering ¿Cómo?, ¿qué haces por la mañana?, ¿cómo son?, ¿qué dices cuándo?,
  • ¿qué hace?

Module Four

  • Turtles and baby turtles
  • Dominican culture and traditions
  • Diphthongs
  • Musical instruments used in merengue music
  • Expressing that something is loud or quiet
  • Directional words
  • Occupations
  • Famous Dominicans
  • Biographies
  • Dominican Republic treasures
  • Amber resin
  • Insects
  • Hace mucho tiempo
  • Morning activities and routine
  • Nighttime activities and routine
  • Turning on and off the lights
  • The reflexive pronoun se
  • Asking and answering ¿qué instrumento toca?, ¿qué hacen él y ella?, ¿qué buscas tú?, ¿qué hace, por la noche?

Credits .5

Competencies

Pre-Requisites

None

Attend a virtual open house

We offer regular online open house webinars where VLACS staff members provide parents and students with an overview of our programs and answer questions about online learning.